Counter-poised tilting door, particularly for motor-car garages



Oct. 15, 1935. E. WANNER 2,017,554

COUNTERPOISED TILTING DOOR PARTICULARLY FOR MOTOR CAR GARAGES FiledSept. 14, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l- By his Afforpe Oct. 15, 1935. E. WANNER2,017,554

COUNTERROISED TILTING DOOR PARTICULARLY FOR MOTOR CAR GARAGES FiledSept. 14, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 15, 1935 UNITED srrsCOUNTER-POISED TILTING DOOR, PARTIC- ULARLY FOR MOTOR-CAR GARAGES EdmondWanner, Geneva,.Switzerland Application September 14, 1933, Serial No.689,359 In Great Britain October 4, 1932 4 Claims. (01. 20-49) Thisinvention relates to a counter-poised tilting door particularly formotor car garages and more particularly of the kind in which the upperportion of the door is guided by one or more pivoted arms while thelower portion is guided by vertical guide rails so that the door has acombined rising and tilting movement, during which it iscounter-balanced by means of a cable or cables attached to the dooradjacent to the vertically guided portion and arranged vertically overpulleys and connected to a counterbalance weight or weights of constanteffective mass and having a free vertical movement.

Hitherto in such doors the support required to be provided by thecounterweight to maintain a balance varied considerably with theposition of the door in its tilting movements for opening and closing,and various indirect acting and gearing devices, such as a fusee cablegear, have been provided to give a coresponding progressive variation ofpull by the counterweight to maintain balance thereby in all positions.

The object of the invention is an improved construction of tilting doorof the kind referred to so as to overcome the above difiiculties and isbased upon an appreciation of certain necessary relative geometricalproportions of the parts of the door so that a direct acting (i. e. notvariably geared) counterweight or counterweights may substantiallybalance the door in all its positions.

According to the invention the counter-poised tilting door of the kindreferred to is characterized in that the door is balanced by at leastone direct-acting counterweight, the guiding arms being proportioned andarranged so that in direction, the tension in the arms and the thrust inthe door are maintained at substantially equal and opposite angles tothe horizontal in all positions of the door and especially as the latterapproaches the horizontal or raised position. According to a furtherfeature of the invention,

the counter-poised tilting door of the kind referred to is characterizedin that the door is suspended so that the axes of the points ofsuspension are close to the median plane of the door.

In the accompanying drawings:--

Fig. 1 is an elevation from the interior of the garage of one example oftilting door in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a side view and Fig. 3 a horizontal section on a larger scaleof the same door.

7 Figs. 4 and 5 are detail views, the first showing a way of fixing thecable to the counterweight and the second a way of fixing the cable tothe door.

Figs. 6 and '7 show 'modified forms of the invention.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 3 the panel I of the door 5' is made of ametallic frame 2 with panelling 3 in wood for example. It is furnishedat its lower end with two lateral rollers 4 running in rectilinearvertical guides 5 composed of U-irons positioned in front of the twosides of the opening 6. The 10' frame 2 of the door bears, in theinterior of the garage besides the guide rollers 4, two connecting ironsl to which the ends-of two metallic cables 8 are fixed. The cables 8 goover different pulleys so as to rise vertically from the connectingirons I 15 and are brought together and joined to the singlecounter-weight 9 which is to counter-balance the weight of the door.This counterweight is furnished with a handle ID.

The metallic supports 2|, 22 of the pulleys 20 .20 are attached rigidlyto the guides 5.

The frame 2 of the panel I is also furnished towards the centre of itslateral sides, and therefore approximately in the line of the centre ofgravity of the door," with short brackets II to which are 25 pivoted, onan axis 24, the extremities of the two arms I2, their upper extremitiesbeing pivoted at axes 23 in brackets placed above the guides 5; the axes23, in view of the convenience of the construction, are not to be foundin the median vertical plane 30 of the guides 5 which contains theturning axis 25 of panel I on the rollers 4, but are to be found at arelatively short horizontal distance m to the right of (i. e. behind)this plane.

Further, by construction, if one calls m the 35 horizontal distanceseparating the fixed turning axis of the arm from the vertical plane 30passing through the doors turning axis on the guide members, at themaximum opening position'of the latter, a the distance between thegeometri- 40 cal turning axes 23, 24 of the arms, and b the distancebetween the axes 24 and 25, then, in order that the arms and the doormay make substantially equal angles with the horizontal, particularly inits uppermost portions, the following formulac must be satisfied:

or b=a+m, but the formulae first given are preferred because thedimensions (a-l-b) and m are 55 in practice directly ascertainable andtherefore calculation for a or b is simplified.

The required condition of equal and opposite inclination to thehorizontal of the thrust in the door and tension in the arms is given bycompliance with such formula as shown in Fig. 2 by' the dihedral anglesA and B between the horizontal plane 28 and the planes 26 andZLrespectively containing the axes 2,3 and 24 and the axes 24 and 25.

The door is provided with a bolt l4 adapted to engage with the lintel ofthe garage for locking the door in the closed position.

In Fig. 2 also the door is shown in two intermediate positions betweenclosed and open, and force diagrams are shown about the axis 24,

in which 01 represents the weight :of the door,

and by completing the parallelogram of forces, e and 7 represent thecombined tensions in the two arms l2, and the thrust in the structure ofthe door l respectiv ly b th in magnitude and direction. Attention isnow directed to the force diagram at .the axis 25 of the rollers .4 alsoshown in Fig. 2, where g-f is drawn as the force which is resolved intoa vertical component 11., representing the combined load in thesupporting cables at .each side, and the horizontal com.- ponent zrepresenting the outward horizontal thrust on the two vertical guiderails 5.

As will be evident, while .the axis .24 is as .close as practicable tothe door it may be said .to ,be substantially in the median plane of thedoor or in the plane containing the axis 25'and the centre of gravity ofthe door, and therefore the weight distribution of the door .at thepoints 24 and 25 remains substantially constant at ,all an les ofinclination so that .d is constant while the angles A .and B remainsubstantially e uaLethe forces e and f are equal and, therefore, thevertical component 71. of the force 9 is equal to o a p s ns. It s alsoob u t a in p ce h xes a d 2.5 may be rran d s m distance from themedian plane of the door withou 's riou y a fect e bala c of the sameexcept as the door approaches the vertical or os d pos n. s n as such earan e en is efiected in such manner as to maintain the above statedangular equality. If thepreviousl y s d ica p porti n o b an m are notprovided, then the angular equality, especially at the raised positionwill not be maintained and the vertical component force :12 may increaseor decrease, when the balance of the door cannot obviously be maintainedby the d rect acting counterweight.

Referring togFig. 2 shows on the one hand that the greater part of thedoor remains in all intermediate positions to the right of the left sideof the opening 6 outside of which it never projects itself, and on theother hand that the upper end of the panel rises only-a j-little towardsthe ceiling during its motion; this limits to-a relatively small spacethe supplementary heightwhich itrequires in the interior of the garage.

As described, the ,door is composed of two parts 2, 3 but the latter arenot articulated one on the other, and can have no motion one in relationto the other for the closing or .the opening of the door, they thus workas a whole, contrarily to what takes :place some known devices where itis dividedintoseveralzpartssthe ones articulated on theothers.

The door can be provided with windows, or one or more small doors, whichcan be closed by turning or sliding parts.

As already stated, it is suificient where m is small that the distancesat, b correspond ap- 5 proximately and not exactly to the valuesindicated in order that the action required from the counterweightremains approximat ly invariable.

Means can be provided for adjustment when in position, according torequirements of the length m ofthe arms E2. The latter can, to this end,be composed for example of two parts placed in line having left andright-handed threads at their opposite ends :and being joined by a longnut with corresponding threads. The turnbuckle thus provided enables theeffective length of the arms l2 to be adjusted.

The device can either be worked by hand or by motor.

;If the centre of gravity of the door is not at the point of connectionof the arms, the weight of the door is distributed between the two.supporting elements, namely the arms and thecable,

ascertainable according to the known principles in estimating the weightdistribution on the supports .of a simple loaded beam. The load to bebalanced by the cable will then be ,a component derived from the weightat the pivot of the arms plus the dead weight at the point :of the cable30 support due to the weight distribution above re ferred to. So long asthe axes 24 and25aresubstantially at the median plane of the door of theline joining them passes through its centre of gravity, the second part.of the cable load remains constant and so long as the formula: as tothe relative proportions of m1) .and m is ,also satisfied the other partof the-cable load remains constant, the weight at the pivot arms beingcon stant and the component to .be supported by the 40 cable beingexactly .one half thereof. Where the centre of gravity is approximatelyat the axis 24 then clearly it is less importantas regards the point ofattachment of the cable relative to the median plane of the-door, andvice .versa. 4

In certain cases the door can be arranged ,to 6

portioned and arranged for balance by a simple 55 weight in allpositions .of the door.

The fixing of the cable will, preferably, .be efiected in such a mannerthat should one ,of the sections of the cable break, the door will -notfall as the weight would -be taken by the other cable.

A ,method of fixing for such effect of the two sections of the cable 3|and 32 which are butthe two ends of a loop of a cable, is shown inEig.4. This figure shows a cross sectional view of the counterweight 33formed with a circular bore 34 sections 3| and 32 thereof.

to receive the 'loop of the cable between thetwo A fastening member 35is secured to the cable immediately above the weight by screws, bolts,or other kinds of fastening members 36 and thus fixes the weightpositively in the loop.

It is to be noted that during erection of the door or even afterwardsowing to a difference-in the length of the sections of the cables, itmay left and right-handed screw 15 happen that in the course of use, oneof the sections of the cable is called upon to work more than the other.To counter-balance the strain supported by both sections it is onlynecessary to loosen the fastening member 35 so as to allow the loop ofthe cable to slide in the bore 34, i. e., for the whole to recover itsbalance, the fastening device being then re-tightened.

Should one of the sections of the cable snap, the door cannot fallseeing that the other section still keeps it in connection with thecounterweight. In fact if one supposes that the section 3| broke, thesection 32 would still remain attached to the counterweight by the loopformed by the cable in the counterweight and maintained by the fasteningmember 35. Only the rupture of the two sections of the cable at once orelse that of the loop maintained by the fastening member 35 could bedangerous but such a happening is not likely to occur as there should beno wear or movement at the loop.

Fig. 5 shows a simple way of fixing the end of a section of the cable tothe door. Let us suppose that it is the end of the section 32 that is tobe fixed to the door. For this purpose a metallic plate 31 is providedbored with four holes 38, 39, ill and 5 i through which the cable isthreaded in the way shown. The end of the cable is threaded through thefirst hole 38 then, forming a loop is passed through the second hole 39.and then, forming a second loop, through a third hole 40 passing overthe fourth hole 4!. After having formed the fastening loop, in which maybe provided a cable shoe 42, the cable is passed through the hole 4!,then through the loop 43 formed between the holes 38 and 39. The cablethus arranged fornrs a loop 42 which is absolutely rigid even if the endis left loose but preferably the end will be secured by a binding 44, asshown, if only for the purpose of safe disposal of what might become adangerous frayed end.

In Figs. 6 and '7 are shown modifications of the invention wherein abracket 45 is provided for the rollers 46 so that the axis 41corresponding to the axis 25 is displaced from the plane of the door.The door is supported by an arm 48 pivoted at 49 and as in thepreviously described example the angular equality for the angles A and Bis maintained. By this arrangement the tendency for the partial loss ofbalance of the door when in its vertical position may be modified. Asshown in Fig. 7 a bracket 50 is also provided at the pivot of the arm48, so that the balance of the door when in its vertical positon mayalso be thereby modified without substantially interfering with thebalance of the door in its horizontal or intermediate positions. Thesemodifications would be particularly useful where the centre of gravityof the door is in the lower half thereof, say at the point 5| on or nearthe lower boundary line of the angle B.

Obviously the invention while described with reference to garage doorsis equally applicable to the construction of windows, partitions,shutters and the like.

In the known arrangement of counter-poised 5 a not be confused with theangles A and B as in such known arrangement the formula relative to thedimension d, b and m is not satisfied and consequently the anglesequivalent to the angles A and 15 B are not maintained constant,particularly at the upper positions of the door. This differenceaccounts for the necessity of providing the scroll arrangement for thecounterweight mechanism.

What I claim is:- 20

1. In a counter-poised tilting door of the kind having guide rollers atthe lower end of the door engaging vertical guides in the door frame andhaving supporting arms connected to one face of the door by pivots atpoints in a horizontal 2 plane, which substantially at all timesbi-sects the angle subtended at such connection by the pivots of theother ends of the arms and the axis of the guide rollers, bracketssupporting the said guide rollers a substantial distance from the 30median plane of the door and on the other side thereof relative to theconnecting pivots of the supporting arms.

2. In a counter-poised tilting door according to claim 1, brackets forthe connecting pivots 35 of the supporting arms which position thepivots a substantial distance from the face of the door.

3. In a counter-poised tilting door of the kind having guide rollers atthe lower end of the door engaging vertical guides in the door frame and40 having supporting arms connected to one face of the door by pivots atpoints in a liorziontal plane, which substantially at all timesbi-se'cts the angle subtended at such connection by the pivots of theother ends of the arms and the axes 45 of the guide rollers, bracketssupporting the said guide rollers a substantial distance from the medianplane of the door and on the other side thereof relative to theconnecting pivots of the supporting arms, and means for adjusting the 50effective length of the said arms.

4. In a counter-poised tilting door according to claim 1, bracketssupporting the guide rollers a substantial distance from the medianplane of the door so that the plane in which lie the axes of. the guiderollers and of the connecting pivots of the supporting arms is broughtcloser to the centre of gravity of the door.

' 00 EDMOND WANNER.

